Mom
by BADfangirl18
Summary: Her nickname hadn't been intended but everyone could agree that it was the perfect fit for her. She was theirs and they were hers.
1. Chapter 1: Manhattan

**Mom**

Unlike most of the nicknames given out amoung the newsies hers was not given purposfully. It happened a few months after she first arrived, the boys still calling her by her first name as they had yet to settle on a nickname that suited her. Rover, a young boy of 8, was having a nightmare and in his desparation for comfort had called the name out as she came up to his side. By the time the word had left his lips at least 5 other boys were up to hear it and as she sat there rocking him in her arms and whispering words of strength and comfort to him they each agreed that no name was more perfect for the young woman, the next day every Manhattan newsie was calling her 'mom' and when she finally figured out what had happend all she could do was laugh.

 _ **MUSH.**_

Now Mush at 12, was old enough to remember his life before being a newsie, he could remember his his dad and the way he used to ruffle his hair and call him junior, he remembered his grandparents and how their house smelled of cigar smoke and peppermint, he could remember going to school and paling around with his friends between classes. Most of all he remembered his mother. She was a sweet woman who kissed his boo-boos and hugged him tight when he was scared, she smelled of flowers and sugar cookies, and she was his favorite person in the world. So when he heard the girls new name he could onlysmile and shake his head at how well it fit her. Now don't get him wrong he would never forget the woman who brought him into this world and he could never love another woman the same way he had loved his ma but when he sometimes forgot what it was like to have one, and she would sit by his side and hold his hand while rubbing his back and tell him stories of all the mischief her brother and his friend had gotten into trying to drive her mama crazy all he could do was smile and think how lucky he was to get two such amazing women as his moms.

 _ **BOOTS.**_

Boots couldn't really remember the first lady he had called mother. Sometimes he thinks he dreams of a woman who was dark like him with gentle eyes and a warm smile picking him up and dancing around the house with him on her hip, swinging and dipping and twirling without a care in the world but he's not sure if that's a memory or just something he thought up to make himself feel better. Though when he thinks about his mom hers is the face he pictures, dark hair framing her oval face, with her bright blue eyes that have gray flecks in them. He watches her as she finishes cleaning the boarding house and starts to fix up whatever scraps the other boys and he could bring her for dinner, all the while humming a nameless tune she's made up and then suddenly she's pulling him in to a dance, coming up with the steps as they go, not caring that they aren't even in the kitchen anymore and at least half the lodging house is watcing them. There are smiles a mile wide on both their faces, and It doesn't hurt now, not as much as it did, that he can't be sure if he remembers his mothers face or imagined the woman in his 'memories' because he has mom and he knows he'll never forget her face.

 _ **JACK.**_

At 17 years old Jack Kelly was to old to need his mother, which was a good thing because she had died sometime back. Sure as he got older he imagined going home one day and telling her that he had met the woman he was going to marry and he couldn't wait for them to meet each other, he could see her beaming at him with pride and saying how happy she was for him and how proud she was that he was her son, though he knew she would never say those words to him. Then he came home one night with a smile bright enough to light up all of New Yorks buroughs and Mom raised one eyebrow and asked what had him in such a good mood. Laughing as he picked her up off her feet and spun her in circles he told her he had just met a girl, the most amazing girl he'd ever seen, besides her of course, the woman he was gonna marry someday! She glared at him telling him to put her down, after he had she told him he better be planing to bring this young woman over to meet her one of these days! She said that even though she was postitive no girl would ever be good enough for her Jacky-boy, she would love this one because he did. He asured her that he couldn't wait for his two best girls to meet, cheekily adding that he would never marry a girl that didn't meet her approval as he kissed her cheek and she swatted at him with a dish towl laughingly. About two years later he thinks to himself that he doesn't need to wonder if his mom is proud of him anymore because she's standing infront of him fighting back tears of happiness as she strieghtens his tie and tells him she's proud of the man he's become, that she's proud to have been his Mom.


	2. Chapter 2: Brooklyn

**Mom**

It wasn't unusual for her to cross the bridge and visit her Brooklyn newsies or for them to come visit her, she tried to make it over at least once a week but ususally after dinner she'd go for a walk and look up to find that she was already over the bridge. Over the years it became a routine, every other day she'd finish up her work, have an early dinner with the Manhattan boys, then she'd say goodnight to the fellas and head to Brooklyn with one or more of the older boys, usually Race and Blink, following her to make sure she got to the bridge unharmed and when she got to the other side Spot or one of his boys would be waiting to take her to the lodge house where she would take care of the boys and few girls there, before settling in for the night, and in the morning Spot would walk her back to 'Hattan before any of the boys were up.

 _ **RUNNER.**_

When Runner was 10 a fire in her families appartment building had made her an orphan, when she was 12 she had met Mom on one of the young womans semi-daily trips to Brooklyn and was taken to Spot for work and a place to stay. Spot argued that he didn't want any girls running around trying to act tuff and getting hurt on his turf. Mom and Spot continued arguing for half an hour before Spot caved. When runner was 14 she woke up one morning with a really bad stomach ache and when she got out of bed she screamed at the blood on her matress so loud she woke up half the block. Luckly it was one of the nights Mom had stayed over and while most of the guys were freaking out she was calm as ever and explaind to the boys, and runner, that there was nothing to worry about she would take care of it. After getting a bird over to 'Hattan to explain she wouldn't be back that morning she shooed the boys out to the street to start selling, sat Runner down and explained what was going on. When Runner turns 16 she'll have given the speech to six other girls who became women while working as a Brooklyn Newsie and every time she'll wonder how Mom was so collected about the whole damn thing, and she'll wonder the same thing each time she has to go through the speech with her own daughters. Each time she gives that speech and try to calm down a terrified young girl she'll also be extreamly greatful that even though she didn't have her mama to explain things like that she was lucky enough to have Mom there to teach her this stuff.

 _ **SPOT.**_

He refuses to call her Mom, or any similar name. The word and everything that comes with it don't exactly have good memories attatched to it. His own mother didn't inspire any confidince that such a thing as unconditional love existed, especially between mother and child. So when he first heard about this young woman who took care of the Manhatteners without any pomp and circumstance he didn't quite belive it, then he met her. He knew right then he would never be able to call her Mom like the others did so after they had been introduced he asked for her real name, and she told him,and he was the only one aloud to call her that. A few years later as he watches her with Runner and Skips he can't help but think that this is what a mother is supposed to be and at 17 this woman is a great mother to hundreds of kids when some women can't even be an average mother to one. It's a few months after the strike that he sees her playing with Tiny Tim and he gets a flash of her sitting there with their child, a toddler with his light brown hair and chin, and her eyes and smile, on her hip and her belly swollen with another. He begins to think and then he decides and he starts training Ducky to take comand, and asks Jack about that job that was opening up at his work and to put in a good word with his boss and when he's saved up enough money he buys the perfect ring, he gets down on one knee and proposes. A decade later and he still thanks God everyday that she said yes.

 _ **ANDREW.**_

I have the best mommy ever! She's kind and gentle, with a smile for everyone but tough enough to stand her ground with daddy when he gets stubborn and strong enough to scare Brutus when she gives him _that_ look. She also takes care of everyone in our family, now that's a lot of people; My dad and my brothers and sisters and me and all of our 'adopted' siblings to. Mommy and daddy said that even though they're not blood they're still family, mommy says that they found her and saved her but daddy and everyone else says that they may have found her but she's the one who saved them. I think I beileve daddy and them cause when Crutchie's leg starts to hurt mama puts it up on the couch and rubs it and he always says she has the magic touch, and when Runner doesn't know what to do anymore mommy sits and listens to her and when Runner is done she always says that even when she doesn't say anything mommy knows just what to say. Racetrack is always asking mommy to name horsies for him to bet on and telling her she's his lucky charm when he wins and when Davey gets stuck on something at work he has mama read it for him and give him better ideas. Skips is always coming over and asking mommy to help him deal with the other boroughs, telling her that there's nobody more loved and respected in all of New York then her! Daddy also says that mommy is the reason we have such a big family and so many people who care about us, cause she took care of them when they didn't have anybody else. I belive that to cause my mommy is the best mommy in the whole wide world!


	3. Chapter 3: Queens

**Mom**

When she was about 8 years old there was an incident, involving her older brother, his best friend, and three older boys. Now these three older boys had hurt her big brother and did something he and his best friend would coin as activating her 'Beast Mode'. Now this only happened when someone she loved or cared deeply about was hurt or in danger. She never remembered what happened in Beast Mode but from the stories she was told after the fact, that might be a good thing.

 _ **Spring**_

I wasn't sure what had just happened or what was still happening. He and Sprocket had just been following Fox's orders, bringing those two 'Hattanas to him, the kid had resisted and started fighting so I had backhanded him to make him stop. The kid had cried out and when his face came back up there was blood coming out of his nose, all of a sudden, he hears this inhuman roar! The next thing he knows he's blasted to the ground by a train and someone is grabbing his face between their hands, lifting it and smashing it down on the ground till he's knocked unconscious. When I wake up I sees the girl Manhattans Sprocket was trying to drag, M-something, she's fighting Fox and she's winning! I'd never seen anyone, much less a girl, take on Fox and beat him but that's what was happening right before my eyes! That's when he notices that he's not the only one on the ground in pain, everyone but Fox and the girl were too, Sprocket and he looked to be the only conscious ones though. When he manages to make eye contact with Sprocket he asks in a whisper what had happened, Sprocket just points over to the Fox and the girl and whispers one word as Fox is finally beat down and knocked out. "Mom."

 _ **Sprocket**_

It all happened so fast that at first, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but I will never forget that day, I will never forget what I saw there. Spring had hit the kid, Racetrack his name was, not to hard just enough that he'd stop struggling, but when he the kid pulled his head back his nose was bloody and that's when it happened. The girl sees that the kid is bleeding and before I can act she's...not screaming or yelling, it's more like roaring, yeah, she was roaring and then she pounced! Just jumps up on Springs, knocks him to the ground and bashes his head against it until he's out cold! When I move to hold her down she turns on me, punching and kicking and hitting faster than I can block or even see! She knocks me to the ground and I'm smart enough to not get up, I can see three more guys coming up on her, they tackle her to the ground but it doesn't stop her in the slightest, she just keeps going and going until the only one left is Fox. I can see Springs starting to wake up out of the corner of my eye but I can't look away from Mom and Fox's fight. Springs is trying to get my attention, when I finally look over at him he whisper-asks me what happened all I can do is point over to where Fox has finally lost his fight, to the only person in this room left standing and whisper back her name "Mom."

 _ **Fox**_

When I wake up Springs and Sprocket are standing over me. The Manhattan Newsies, Mom and Racetrack Sprocket informs me, are gone. I don't know what to think, if what I saw just really happened but Sprocket and the dozen knocked out newsies layin all over the floor tells me it did. I decide to wait a few days before doing anything, just patch up my guys, although a few of them will be singing soprano for a while. When I finally get the courage to head on over to 'Hattan there's no need cause standing there in front of me is Sprint, Mom, Racetrack, and Jack Kelley with a few other Manhattan newsies scuffling around in the back, holding sacks of...something, he can't tell what. Before I can ask what's going on Sprint starts talking "Race and Mom have told me what happened here and Mom has something she wants to say to you." He steps to the side to let her talk and never in my life could I have guessed what was gonna come out of her mouth. "I'm so sorry! I never meant to hurt anyone, I swear, it was just an accident!" I musta looked very confused because Sprint speaks up saying "Mom has what we like to call her Beast Mode. It only comes out when someone she loves or cares about is hurt or in danger. During this time, she blacks out, can't remember a thing about what happens, and unfortunately when one of your boys hit Racetrack and made him bleed, Beast Mode was activated." Mom jumped right back in with "I really am sorry, I don't like hurting people. I even brought some supplies so I can help heal the boys I hurt, and we brought fixens so after word I can make all of us dinner. If that's ok with you sir!" I sat there for a bit trying to let my brain catch up to the words that were coming out of her mouth and once that happened I couldn't help but burst out laughing! I couldn't help it, this girl who couldn't have been older than 15, maybe 16, had taken out half of my guys without blinking and she couldn't even remember it! On top of all that here she was offering to help mend what she broke and fix us dinner afterword, it was just to funny! Once I calmed down I got up to stand in front of her and with a smile on my face I told her "Dahlin, you've just managed to do what nobody except the newsie leaders has...you've earned my respect. You are welcome in Queens anytime you want!" And I meant it, hell if she did a decent job on patchen up the boys then we may call for Mom every time wes in need of a nurse!


End file.
